the time
comes."

Shoving the protesting and leave-taking Barker with paternal familiarity
from the room, he closed the door and faced Demorest.

"He's the best fellow in the world," said Stacy quietly, "and has saved
the situation; but we mustn't trust too much to him for the present--not
even seem to."

"Nonsense, man!" said Demorest impatiently. "You're letting your
prejudices go too far. Do you mean to say that you suspect his wife."

"D--n his wife!" said Stacy almost savagely. "Leave her out of this.
It's Van Loo that I suspect. It was Van Loo who I knew was behind it,
who expected to profit by it, and now we have lost him."

"But how?" said Demorest, astonished.

"How?" repeated Stacy impatiently. "You know what Barker said? Van Loo,
either through stupidity, fright, or the wish to get the lowest prices,
was too late to buy up the market. If he had, we might have openly
declared the forgery, and if it was known that he or his friends had
profited by it, even if we could not have proven his actual complicity,
we could at least have made it too hot for him in California. But," said
Stacy, looking intently at his friend, "do you know how the case stands
now?"

"Well," said Demorest, a little uneasily under his friend's keen eyes,
"we've lost that chance, but we've kept control of the stock."

"You think so? Well, let me tell you how the case stands and the price
we pay for it," said Stacy deliberately, as he folded his arms and gazed
at Demorest. "You and I, well known as old friends and former partners,
for no apparent reason--for we cannot prove the forgery now--have thrown
upon the market all our stock, with the usual effect of depreciating it.
Another old friend and former partner has bought it in and sent up the
price. A common trick, a vulgar trick, but not a trick worthy of James
Stacy or Stacy's Bank!"

"But why not simply declare the forgery without making any specific
charge against Van Loo?"

"Do you imagine, Phil, that any man would believe it, and the story of a
providentially appointed friend like Barker who saved us from loss?
Why, all California, from Cape Mendocino to Los Angeles, would roar
with laughter over it! No! We must swallow it and the reputation of
'jockeying' with the Wheat Trust, too. That Trust's as good as done for,
for the present! Now you know why I didn't want poor Barker to know it,
nor have much to do with our search for the forger."

"It would break the dear fellow